Why Keeping A Diary Is Great For Writers

Writing can be a tough old business. Sometimes when you sit down to write the words just don’t seem to want to come out. Writer's block can happen to anyone at any time, but even more common concerns like worrying whether you are good enough, being overly critical of your own writing, and not wanting to share it with anyone for fear of rejection can all make it difficult when it comes to putting pen to paper.

Keeping a personal journal or diary is a great way to address some of these common writers problems.

Here are five reasons why you should consider it

A diary helps us to write regularly

Writing is a skill and we need to keep practicing it, otherwise, we’ll lose it. Writing a diary is a great way of getting into a writing routine if you can keep it up every day.

Buy a page per day diary to give you some structure - then you know when you come to write it that you’ve only got to fill that little page and you’ve done enough.

Unlike other creative or even non-fiction writing, a diary has a specific purpose - to note down the events of the day, and your thoughts and feelings about them. This structure means you already know what you have got to write about, it makes it easy, and, the more you write, the more you’ll find yourself become creative with they way that you express yourself when you do.

It can be just for you

A diary is personal, you don’t have to show it to anyone. That knowledge immediately takes away any pressure, you know no one is going to see it (unless you want them to of course) and so you are free to write about whatever you want.

The writing doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact, it can be downright mundane if that’s the kind of mood you are in. But the more your write with that sense of freedom and safety, the more likely you are to let yourself go, express yourself however you want, and that will make you feel more creative, honest and satisfied.

It can give you inspiration

Maybe your day to day life is a thrilling roller coaster ride where you never know what is going to happen next. However, if you are like most of us, day to day life might happily tick by with nothing too eventful going on.

Still, when you look back on your day try to think of the little things, what made it good? What made it bad? What made you laugh? What strange conversation did you catch a snippet of when you were walking down the street? These little snippets of life here and there could suddenly give you inspiration and a great idea for your next piece of work.

It is something you will look back on and treasure

Dairies hold precious memories about our lives that we may well forget if we don’t write them down.

Sometimes it's the little things that are the most lovely and heartwarming, and keeping a diary now is something you can look back on later in life and reminisce and laugh and live it all over again.     

It tells us who we are

A dairy is a place where we can be completely honest with ourselves.

At the time of writing you may not realise it, but when you look back over what you have written, your writing may give you an interesting insight into who you are and who you want to be.

Often you’ll find patterns in your emotions, responses, behaviour, and discovering more and more about yourself can be truly therapeutic, and freeing as well.

Keeping a diary is a useful tool. Not only can it help us with our writing in a practical sense, but can also soothe us emotionally and inspire us creatively too, so why not give it a go and see what a difference it makes to you?

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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